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@ArsinicCarcinogen (on Quotev)
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INNOCENT
[Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack x Female!Reader]
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(AUTHOR NOTE :: For the sake of me being dumb and uncreative, a murder and two characters of mine will be added to the main cast of THH, as well as a few off-points in canon story and the floors of Hope's Peak; don't like, don't read, simple)
— —

There she lay, on the ground on her side, the foul pink liquid splattered everywhere. It seeped from her throat, where the stab wound was injected, the shattered pieces from her glasses strewn about the floor, her snow white hair fallen over her freckled face, hiding her painful expression from the onlookers.

Absorbing the scene before you, you dropped to your knees as your breath hitched and heart rate quickened; but you didn't cry. Your best friend made in this hellhole, was dead.

"A body has been discovered!" The sickening sound of those chimes danced in your head. "After a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin! Good luck investigating!"

You had hoped, you really hoped, that you could get her out of this killing game alive. Just like you feared from the beginning, you failed— you were too weak.

'Shime Ishitani: Ultimate Illustrator
Time of Death: Unknown
Cause of Death: Suffocation - Pencil stabbed through throat, pierced lungs
Place of Death: Art Room'

Ever since the first murder with Sayaka, you didn't know if you'd be able to take much more of it. Chihiro kept rambling on about how weak she was, and it wasn't exactly helping. Now, here you were, third victim, facing your greatest fear because you too weak. She told you that you weren't, she made you feel better; Shime did. Shime was just about the softest soul you had ever met, and mentioned multiple times that she knew she would become a victim eventually. You tried, you tried so hard to prove her wrong.

Standing next to you, was Taka and Toko, who had arrived just before you did... their reactions weren't much better. Taka, who had made rather fast friends with Shime, you could see his heart shatter upon the sight of her laying there lifeless. He was silent, but his hands were clasped over his mouth like he was about to scream, as quick-falling tears slipped from his eyes. It was clear he was taking it just as hard as you were— but he at least still had Mondo, you had no one else to go to.

Toko, however, just stood there, her pale grey eyes flickering back and forth between the body, as if she expected every detail, and you, who you noticed she would follow around occasionally. You couldn't tell if she was avoiding looking at the body for comfort reasons, or it was a continuation of the first-mentioned. Was she waiting for your reaction? Did she do this, just to throw you off? Was she waiting, watching, to claim your life next?

No, that was your paranoia talking.

You were always a bit frail, both mentally, and physically. Having Shime with you, even though she clearly wasn't at all a fighter, made you feel a bit better; she was your pillar. Before her, you always understood how Chihiro felt, calling herself weak, incapable of anything that involved strength. You found a solemn connection to that, and it ate away at you, every day, every night... small, pathetic, unhelpful. You couldn't get over it. That was, until you made a friend... now, emphasis on "made," because laying in front of you, cold, was her. Finally, you let the tears slip as everyone else ran into the room, collective gasps filling your ears as you tightly covered them with your hands, gripping your head and staring down at your knees, clasping your eyes shut and wished endlessly that you had been dreaming.

"Sh...Shime?!" You could hear Makoto's cry of confusion from behind you, as you opened your eyes to watch both Kirigiri and Byakuya step over to the deaf-girl's body and immediately begin their investigations without a word.

You knew they were just doing what they had to, and was treating her corpse like they would anyone else's, so in a sense, you had thanked them for that.
— —

It'd been about forty-five minutes since the investigation had started up, and Toko of course didn't want anything to do with the dead body. So, she wandered the second floor, and tried to sort out everything in her head. She overheard them talking, Kirigiri, Makoto and Byakuya. It was a horrible habit of her's, sneaking up on people, but she swore it was an accident... most of the time.

"It had to have been her," Kirigiri pointed out, confidently. "Or at least the Mastermind or the killer made it seem almost obvious."

"Or (Y/n) is just that sloppy of a killer." Byakuya added blatantly.

Makoto really only seemed to be the one who was skeptical, or at least he wanted to be. "I really don't want to suspect her, considering how close she was to Shime, but... that all could very possibly have been a plot, I guess. No... no way!"

Toko knew it wasn't you. She saw it happen, all of it— but she was too scared to stop it, and honestly, now she kind if regretted not intervening. When she saw that look on your face during the body discovery announcement, her stomach clenched, more than usual from seeing the blood-stained corpse. The fact she didn't faint also struck her at off... maybe she was just too focused on your painfully shifting expressions. It tore at her, broke her down, but also inspired her; to write into her next book? Maybe, but at the moment, she knew what she had to do— but she didn't know if she herself would be able to.

So, she devised a plan, and took off at an oddly-paced walk down the hallway to her room on the first floor, and for once in her life decided to put something other than her own fate into her hands. As she arrived at her door, Toko harshly looked at the door next to her's, which belonged to the true blackened: Tatakai Ima, the Ultimate Military Sergeant. She didn't like him from the beginning; always yelling at people for doing things improperly, and pretty much just ordering everyone around like they were his subordinates. Toko was almost happy, that if her plan worked, Tatakai would be rightfully executed. Rightfully?

Yes.

Unlocking her room, she rushed inside and scrounged around for spare paper, eventually finding some and scribbling something down onto his with her writing pen, heaving a breath as she finished. "Th-This b-better work, or I s-swear..." Toko then put the paper down onto her table, grabbed the ends of her braids, and tickles her nose, causing her to sneeze.
— —

Everyone stood there, practically composed and confident in their final answers... all eyes were on you.

"You all really think it was me? I gave you my alibi, I showed you my evidence... What more do you want?!" You were starting to crack— the pressure from being the only suspect was getting under your skin, and it was showing.

The burgundy-haired male clicked his tongue as he folded his arms over his chest, "We all know it was you, (Y/n)." Tatakai starter, his sharp lavender eyes piercing what little composure you had left. "You followed her into the art room after our nighttime agreement, backed Shime into a corner and knew she wouldn't defend against you of all people, grabbed a pencil and jabbed it through her throat, and killed her. What we want from you is—"

He was cut off by a rather upset-looking Toko. "S-Silence, you m-m-man-bun wearing c-cretin..." she spat, tugging at her braids and shuffling her feet. "I-It was you..." she finished, vaguely.

Everyone looked shocked, as if that was the biggest table-turn in history. "That's a big accusation for no evidence, Toko!" Makoto inferred, facing her.

"Oh, I-I have evidence a-alright..." the grey-eyed girl muttered with a scowl, doing what she did before and made herself sneeze, calling out the beast. "Whatwhatwhat? Hello, friends and fiends, Genocide Jack in back for the party!" The now red-eyed serial killer practically sang.

Hifumi screeched and held his head, "I hate it when she does that!" He shouted, knees trembling. "Why is she here?!"

"Weeelllll... I guess loser-Toko had something for me to tell all of you chimps! Something about man-bun over there!" Jack paused for a moment before speaking again, as everyone watched Tatakai's face fall. "Toko saw him last night, walking to the art room pretty late, but she had no idea that he was following Kimchi (Shime)!" Jack proceeded to pull out a small audio-recording device from her skirt pocket. "Toko took this from the AV room, I guess, and recorded this!" She proclaimed in a sing-song voice while pressing play.

"You're gonna be my ticket out of her, soldier..." The beginning voice was clearly Tatakai, but followed after that was just pure silence, no gasps or anything; Shime remained completely silent, like she always had. "Tough break, but guess you just didn't make the cut."

And with that, the recording cut off right as there was a stomach-wrenching noise from the pencil stabbing into the deaf-girl's throat. "And there ya have it!" Jack exclaimed before reeling back. "Man-bun murdered Kimchi!" She let out a psychotic laughter before hitting her head on the floor, a passing moment, and then stood up once again, her eyes back to grey.

"That is..." Taka started, a bit shaken. "F-Fairly solid evidence." He added, looking about the courtroom before eventually landing his eyes solely on Tatakai.

The entirety of the room agreed, and even with the burgundy-haired boy's claims, he couldn't seem to shake everyone off, and the way he reacted and what he was spewing, he was giving away more information than anyone else knew— so it was official.

Tatakai was voted the blackened, and his execution commenced through harsh stares and sorrowful downcast expressions.

Now four of you were gone, only twelve left, that you all knew of.
— —

After the Ultimate Military Sergeant's riddance, you walked over to Toko with a relieved smile across your face. Honestly, without her last efforts, you would have been screwed; everyone would have, then. "Hey, um... I wanted to thank you, Toko. What you did, um... it means a lot to me, and it definitely would have to Shime. You saved us all an unnecessary end."

The purple-haired girl just turned on her heel with sharp eyes, but a shy body demeanor that you hadn't seen before. "I-It was no problem..." she had a sort of creepy smile, before morphing her expression into that of a mild upset. "B-B-But don't expect me t-to do it again! I-I just... didn't wanna d-die, yet... That's all." She finished, her words getting softer and softer as she continued.

She knew you were innocent and wanted to help, and you knew she really stuck her neck out to help you.

But you both kept those facts between yourselves.